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'Good mothers are expected to be selfless. Artists are seen as selfish. So what does this mean for a mother with artistic ambitions?
'Enter: frustrated poet Veda Gray, who is offered a Faustian bargain when a wealthy childless couple, the Parishes, invite her to exchange her young son Owen for time to write.
'Veda's story unfolds as an adult Owen reflects on his boyhood in the Melbourne suburbs, and in the vibrant bohemian inner-city art world where his restaurateur father was a king. Meanwhile, the talented women in his orbit - Veda, Mrs Parish, wife of an influential poet, muralist and restaurant worker Rosa - push against gender expectations to be recognised as legitimate artists, by their intimates and the wider world. And almost-aunt Ornella, who declares herself without an artistic bone in her body, is perhaps the closest thing Owen has to a traditional mother. As Owen is encouraged to 'be a man', he loses something of himself, too.
'Blending wit and pathos, love and fury, ambition and loss, this is an extraordinary novel of love and art, set in the Melbourne milieu of Georges and Mirka Mora, Joy Hester, and John and Sunday Reed.' (Publication summary)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
- y Edwina Preston for The Stella Shortlist Astrid Edwards (interviewer), 2023 26204510 2023 single work podcast interview
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Stella Prize Shortlist 2023 : Your Guide to 6 Gripping, Courageous Books
2023
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 26 April 2023; -
Good Mother, Bad Mother, Art Mother
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , February 2023;
— Review of Bad Art Mother 2022 single work novel'Am I a good mother or a bad mother? This question inflects my perception of each day, of my every action and every word as they steadily accumulate into the imago I hold of myself as a mother. Healthy snacks: good. Screen time: bad. Embraces: good. Snapping, shouting, screaming: bad bad bad.' (Introduction)
-
Brooms and Cupboards : A Familial Portrait of the Melbourne Art World
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 445 2022; (p. 24)
— Review of Bad Art Mother 2022 single work novel 'In 1961, Gwen Harwood submitted a sonnet to the Bulletin under the name of Walter Lehmann. Her poem, ‘Abelard to Eloisa’, held a shocking acrostic secret that many people considered very bad art. Nobody discovered the secret until after it was published. But despite her transgression, as Wikipedia puts it, ‘she found much greater acceptance’ – to the point that she is today considered one of Australia’s greatest poets.'(Introduction)
-
Gwen Harwood Was One of Australia’s Finest Poets – She Was Also One of the Most Subversive
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 18 July 2022;
— Review of My Tongue Is My Own : A Life of Gwen Harwood 2022 single work biography ; Bad Art Mother 2022 single work novel'Gwen Harwood is one of Australia’s finest poets. Her poetry is studied in secondary schools across the nation. While she remains largely unknown internationally, her poetry and letters continue to excite and inspire readers 27 years after her death.'
-
Edwina Preston : Bad Art Mother
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , May 2022;
— Review of Bad Art Mother 2022 single work novel'Edwina Preston’s second novel conjures a rich portrait of the artist as a young woman.'
-
Edwina Preston Bad Art Mother
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 11-17 June 2022;
— Review of Bad Art Mother 2022 single work novel'In 1961, fed up with being ignored, poet Gwen Harwood sent two acrostic sonnets to The Bulletin under a male pseudonym, spelling out: “so long bulletin”, “fuck all editors”. The scandal made headlines – not only because The Bulletin was duped, but because a woman dared to use such an obscenity. Harwood’s recollection that one friend declared her “cut off from decent motherhood” inspired Edwina Preston’s latest novel, Bad Art Mother.' (Introduction)
-
Gwen Harwood Was One of Australia’s Finest Poets – She Was Also One of the Most Subversive
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 18 July 2022;
— Review of My Tongue Is My Own : A Life of Gwen Harwood 2022 single work biography ; Bad Art Mother 2022 single work novel'Gwen Harwood is one of Australia’s finest poets. Her poetry is studied in secondary schools across the nation. While she remains largely unknown internationally, her poetry and letters continue to excite and inspire readers 27 years after her death.'
-
Brooms and Cupboards : A Familial Portrait of the Melbourne Art World
2022
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , August no. 445 2022; (p. 24)
— Review of Bad Art Mother 2022 single work novel 'In 1961, Gwen Harwood submitted a sonnet to the Bulletin under the name of Walter Lehmann. Her poem, ‘Abelard to Eloisa’, held a shocking acrostic secret that many people considered very bad art. Nobody discovered the secret until after it was published. But despite her transgression, as Wikipedia puts it, ‘she found much greater acceptance’ – to the point that she is today considered one of Australia’s greatest poets.'(Introduction)
-
Good Mother, Bad Mother, Art Mother
2023
single work
review
— Appears in: Sydney Review of Books , February 2023;
— Review of Bad Art Mother 2022 single work novel'Am I a good mother or a bad mother? This question inflects my perception of each day, of my every action and every word as they steadily accumulate into the imago I hold of myself as a mother. Healthy snacks: good. Screen time: bad. Embraces: good. Snapping, shouting, screaming: bad bad bad.' (Introduction)
-
Stella Prize Shortlist 2023 : Your Guide to 6 Gripping, Courageous Books
2023
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 26 April 2023; - y Edwina Preston for The Stella Shortlist Astrid Edwards (interviewer), 2023 26204510 2023 single work podcast interview
Awards
- 2023 shortlisted The Stella Prize
- 2023 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
- Melbourne, Victoria,
- 1960s